


Strictly robron snapshots

by Laramie



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:47:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21609307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laramie/pseuds/Laramie
Summary: "I'll do it if you pair me with a bloke."There was a slight pause as the woman on the phone tried to process Aaron's abrupt about-turn. "I'm sorry?"Aaron took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly. He already regretted saying it. "As most people across this country are very aware, I'm gay. Half the professional dancers in the world are queer but it's always a man dancing with a woman. It really would've meant something to me when I was little to see two men dancing together on the telly - now I want to be that for someone else. Partner me with a man and I'll do it.""Hmm..." She sounded thoughtful; not against the idea entirely if it meant they could secure Aaron Dingle, famous England rugby player, for the show. "Leave it with me, Mr Dingle. I'll see what we can do."
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Comments: 10
Kudos: 127





	Strictly robron snapshots

**Author's Note:**

> Alright folks, I don't have the time and energy to turn this into a proper fic so here are a few bits and pieces from this silly au idea I had. Disclaimer: I've accidentally caught bits of it but I've never watched a whole series of Strictly Come Dancing so I don't know much about the show and even less about dancing. Anyone from the show is fictionalised. Some use of a reclaimed homophobic slur.

"I'll do it if you pair me with a bloke."

There was a slight pause as the woman on the phone tried to process Aaron's abrupt about-turn. "I'm sorry?"

Aaron took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly. He already regretted saying it. "As most people across this country are very aware, I'm gay. Half the professional dancers in the world are queer but it's always a man dancing with a woman. It really would've meant something to me when I was little to see two men dancing together on the telly - now I want to be that for someone else. Partner me with a man and I'll do it."

"Hmm..." She sounded thoughtful; not against the idea entirely if it meant they could secure Aaron Dingle, famous England rugby player, for the show. "Leave it with me, Mr Dingle. I'll see what we can do."

\--

It was Robert's turn to find out who his partner would be for the next however-many weeks. So far, they had paired off a Coronation Street star, a singer from the '90s and a daytime TV presenter. He was hoping for the gymnast who had been leaked as being part of the show last month.

What he got was a bloke.

His first thought was that there must be some kind of mistake. How could he be partnered with a man? It made no sense. But the presenter was unperturbed, cheerfully telling the audience that this was the show's first same-sex couple and wasn't that exciting? Robert forced a smile, trying not to let his panic show on his face. Why  _ him _ ? Had someone worked it out? Did they know he was bi, and that was why he was the one who got the bloke?

Robert managed to contain himself until they had dismissed him and the bloke to call up the next couple, then he slipped out of the cameras' sights and grabbed a floor manager.

"And why exactly am I the only male professional lumbered with a man?" he growled, his voice coming out more threatening than he had intended.

"Well, Aaron's gay," the floor manager began.

Robert rolled his eyes. "The world and his  _ wife _ knows that, what I'm asking is, why have  _ I _ got him?"

"You're known for your creative choreography," she said, in a matter-of-fact voice that suggested she wasn't just trying to flatter him. "So they thought you'd cope best with having something so unusual to deal with."

Robert clenched his jaw so tightly that his teeth hurt.

"Homophobic, then?" came an oddly disappointed voice.

Turning, Robert saw Aaron standing only a few feet away. He must have heard what Robert had said. Robert wasn't sure why the idea of Aaron thinking he was homophobic made him feel quite so ashamed of himself. "No. But in dancing, unlike in life, there really is a man's role and a woman's role and you can't go mixing that up." He eyed Aaron up, looking at him properly for the first time. He had short dark hair, a neatly trimmed beard, a stocky, well-muscled build, and was a crucial inch or two shorter than Robert. He was hot as fuck, which pissed Robert off. "You do realise you'll have to do the woman's bit?" he said bluntly. "You're shorter."

"I'm sure you're very proud of yourself," Aaron replied, in a voice that meant he might just as well have said 'I don't give a shit.' "You can work something out to suit both of us, I expect."

\--

The first few days in the training room were the most awkward hours Aaron had ever spent. Robert claimed not to be homophobic, and Aaron sort of believed him, but he was still clearly very uncomfortable with their situation. Eventually, after a week of watching Robert frowning at their movements in the mirror, changing steps, adjusting their postures, Aaron realised what was going on: Robert was competitive, as he would have expected from a professional dancer, and he was worried about making the best routine he could in the unusual circumstances.

He gave some thought to how to address this, how to make Robert see that they were a team and that even if Aaron didn't know anything about ballroom, he could be of more help than just putting up with Robert's muttering about timings and holds. In the end, he just plonked down next to Robert when he arrived one morning and said: "What's the plan, then - how are we going to crush the competition?"

Robert just looked at him for a few seconds, confusion in his handsome face, before his mouth pulled into a smirk. He had hardly looked Aaron in the eye since they had been paired up, but now he suddenly seemed unable to look away.

Aaron did his best to keep up with Robert's technical explanations and his rhetorical questions about whether the judges would be marking Aaron to women's criteria or men's, but mostly he just listened to Robert's voice and the enthusiasm in it. It was suddenly very clear to him that, far from hating their time together, Robert had grown to secretly relish the challenge.

\--

Aaron actually wasn't bad at dancing, though his self-consciousness got in the way a lot and his timing wasn't great. Their first live show went off without too many issues, the judges marked them mid-range, and they were put through to the second week. Robert was sure that it was only his competitive streak that made him pleased to be dancing with Aaron again.

\--

It was a surprise to Aaron to realise that he was actually enjoying himself. He had been doubting his decision to take part in the program ever since he had made it - he had never danced in public before, even at weddings - but as it turned out, he was having fun learning a new skill, a new thing he could do with his body. It had been awkward at first, when Robert had seemed unwilling to touch him, but after their first live show was out of the way, they both seemed to take it as a proof of concept and looked at the whole thing more optimistically. They started talking to each other properly too. They talked about their sports teams, favourite restaurants, families, cars. They both steered clear of talking about sexuality, except for how it pertained to the routine Robert had choreographed.

Jive week, week four, was in some ways easy: it didn't call for a great amount of sensuality and the side-by-side sections meant that the men's and women's roles were less distinct than in a lot of the others. But it was also difficult: it required a level of performance and precision that did not come at all naturally to Aaron. Their audience voters weren't enough to redeem them from their poor judges scores, and they ended up in the dance-off.

"We can do this," Robert said seriously, his hands on Aaron's shoulders moments before they were called out, his beautiful blue eyes staring into Aaron's, and Aaron admitted to himself that he was attracted to Robert. "I want to be back here with you next week, so give it everything you've got, okay? Don't get worried about anyone watching, just dance for me, yeah?"

Aaron found himself grinning back. There was something light and straining in his chest, delighted that Robert wanted to keep going - with him.

Aaron danced the best performance of his life and they were put through by the judges unanimously.

\--

It was week five before Robert knew it. The judges had all commented about their "chemistry" in their dance-off jive, and the words kept popping into Robert's head as they practiced their waltz. There wasn't even much scope for chemistry in a jive. He wondered what the judges thought about them. Everyone knew Aaron was gay - no one could miss it with his press history and the fact that he mentioned it in every interview for the show that he did. He said that it was because if any gay kids were watching who didn't know him, he wanted them to know that they could be both gay and successful. It was a kind of bravery that Robert could barely process, never mind emulate. He was sort of jealous of Aaron sometimes; jealous of that openness. He felt the length of Aaron's body against his as they whirled around the training room, and wished that he could do the same.

It was all getting mixed up in his head: who he was, who he pretended to be for his own sanity and safety, and who he was pretending to be for the routine. What made things most complicated was that the time he spent dancing with Aaron - touching, looking in his eyes - felt the least like acting. He forgot himself sometimes, got too into it, before catching sight of the two of them in the mirrors and faltering. It made him antsy.

On the Thursday afternoon, he went too far. There was a moment in the waltz routine where Robert stood right behind Aaron and ran his hands down Aaron's raised arms, right down to his hips. The movement had been worrying Robert ever since the first time they had practiced it - it was too close, it made him shiver. This time, his fingers trailing down Aaron's bare skin, his face tucked in behind Aaron's ear, Robert lost his head. He pressed his lips to Aaron's neck, above the collar of his vest. Aaron breathed in sharply, reaching back to grip Robert's hip. His skin was hot from exertion, and salty. He melted against Robert and sighed, tilting his head out of the way.

"Robert..." Aaron whispered.

The sound of his name made Robert freeze. He opened his eyes and saw himself and Aaron reflected from across the room, looking so small, and yet he could see the panic in his own eyes. He could see how close they were standing, could see the way they were holding each other. He flinched away, berating himself for how foolish he had been. No one who knew him was supposed to know. He had always kept men and dancing separate, even in the face of temptation.

Robert backed away, trying not to look at Aaron's face. "That's fine," he mumbled nonsensically. "You've got it - I'm gonna - I'll see you in the morning."

And he practically ran from the room.

Heading straight for his car, Robert tried to focus on breathing slowly and deeply. He could feel his heartbeat in his face, and he locked the door after himself, leaning his forehead on the steering wheel. Idiot.  _ Idiot _ . He wanted to call Vic, the only one who knew about him, but he knew that she would be reassuring and encouraging, tell him, why not? She would try to push him into something he wasn't ready for. Still, he reached for his phone reflexively, only to realise that it wasn't there.

One panicked root through his pockets later, Robert realised that he had left his phone in the training room along with the rest of his kit. He waited five more minutes to be sure that Aaron was well away before heading back up to collect everything.

He would have to be more careful in future. He couldn't let something like today happen again.

Full of resolve, Robert walked through the door - and hesitated.

"You're still here," he said stupidly, watching Aaron turn about the room. He hadn't looked round when Robert had walked in.

"I want to still be here dancing with you next week," Aaron said calmly. "That means practise. I'm not having them saying I'm heavy-footed again."

Robert watched him, strangely relieved that Aaron was still there, even though he had hoped for him to be gone. "You need to arch your back more."

"It's difficult on my own."

Robert blinked at him, trying to work out if Aaron meant anything snarky with the comment. He didn't seem to, so Robert approached him a little warily and they slipped into hold together. It was as natural as breathing to hold Aaron close. So soon after his mistake, it made Robert's heart flutter. He searched Aaron's face for a clue to how he was feeling, but couldn't make it out. "Lift your chin."

Aaron's eyes dropped to Robert's mouth, before dragging, as if reluctant, back to his eyes. He tilted his face up, looking uncertain and hopeful, and so ready to be kissed that Robert swallowed.

"You keep forgetting to lift your chin," Robert explained, his voice shaky. "It changes the whole shape of your -"  _ don't say body -  _ "of your posture. It'll help a lot."

Aaron's face had fallen. He stepped backwards out of their hold and folded his arms. "So we're just not going to talk about it?" he challenged.

"There's nothing to talk about. Nothing happened."

Aaron frowned at him. "You kissed me."

"I -" Robert wanted to give some explanation, say it hadn't mattered or meant anything, but his brain couldn't come up with anything plausible.  _ I just wanted to.  _ So he went for denial instead, as stupid as it sounded. "No."

"Umm, yes," Aaron corrected him. "I'm not an idiot; I know what it feels like."

And now Robert did too, and Aaron's neck looked so good. "Nothing happened," he ground out. "Nothing happened, alright? Just stop saying it."

Aaron's eyes turned kind. He regarded Robert for a few seconds, before nodding slowly. "Alright. Nothing happened. But it can't happen in future, yeah?"

"Not a problem," Robert muttered, and they went back to practising.

\--

It had been awkward between them, the past couple of days. Robert had gone back to acting as though touching Aaron was a necessary evil which he endured only for the sake of the routine. Aaron couldn't quite make sense of him. He suspected - or hoped - that Robert was new to being attracted to a man, and was having a bit of a crisis over it. If Aaron stayed steady, hopefully Robert would get over it, and they could move forward. And if not... then Aaron would have to get over it, and they could move forward.

Because of the awkwardness, Aaron had some mixed feelings about performing their waltz that Saturday. He stood with Robert, waiting, feeling more nervous than he had before a dance for weeks. Their pre-dance VT was cued, and Aaron listened to it filtering through to them from the studio speakers. A bit of music, a bit of him and Robert laughing as Aaron messed up a step, then Robert was saying something.

" _ I admire Aaron so much for how open he is about who he is. He's so determined. I think that's why he struggles with the performance side of things sometimes, because the rest of the time he's never anyone but exactly who he is... I think that's pretty amazing, actually. _ "

Aaron watched the real Robert's face as these words were said. His cheeks were pink, and he was avoiding Aaron's eyes, looking embarrassed. "I didn't know you'd said that," Aaron said quietly, hoping their mics weren't turned on yet.

Robert gave a little shrug, then offered a smile.

Aaron grinned back at him and nudged their shoulders together, and then they walked out onto the dance floor.

Where, to Aaron's surprise, he waltzed his way into week 6. It was clearly unexpected for Robert, too, though he was kind enough not to say anything.

A few days in, they were sat having a coffee and a banana when Robert fixed his eyes on the mug in his hands and said, "I want to tell you something."

"Alright," Aaron said, a bit confused that Robert felt the need to announce it.

Robert swallowed. "No one knows this but, um... well, my sister knows... Anyway, um... I wanted to tell you I'm bisexual."

Aaron couldn't help but smile. Robert hadn't been messing with him, then.

"No one else knows," Robert said again.

"I won't tell anyone," Aaron assured him.

Robert nodded, still looking at his mug instead of at Aaron.

"That's why you were so worried about being paired with me, then," Aaron realised. "You thought someone knew."

Robert finally looked up at him, seeming surprised. "Yeah. It's hard, you know?"

"It's  _ hard _ ?" Aaron repeated. "This industry's  _ full _ of gay men, isn't it? I mean, literally fifty percent of our judging panel are queer. You're saying  _ this _ is hard, while I'm in a sport full of burly men who think I'm trying to touch them up every time there's a scrum?"

Robert grimaced. "I know. I know, but..." His voice became quieter. "It was bad enough for my dad that I wanted to be a dancer instead of a farmer. Finding out I wasn't straight..."

"He knew?" Aaron asked sympathetically.

Robert nodded, but his expression was becoming guarded. "It was hard for you then, when you started coming out?"

"I played on two rugby teams when I was a teenager. My school team, and a separate one. A couple of the lads on the school team worked it out - almost before I did, really. They spread it round the whole team and they'd make these comments, all the time, or push me over, or wouldn't pass to me. One night, after school, a few of them got together and beat me up. So, I left. And, I'll tell you about this another time but my home life wasn't great, so rugby was all I had, and then the other team found out too and kicked me out. I was  _ gutted _ . Felt like I had nothing any more. I couldn't get away from being gay, so I ended up trying to get away from myself - tried to kill myself. But it didn't work... and I told Paddy what was going on and he talked to the headteacher and suddenly it was everywhere and after I'd recovered, the coach from the England rugby team came to watch me play as this show of support as part of some LGBT positive thing they were doing, and he liked what he saw, I suppose. I started getting more serious about it after that, and I decided I wasn't going to hide who I was from anyone, including myself, cheesy as that all sounds."

"It's not cheesy," Robert said. "It's a little bit magnificent."

\--

They made it through another week, though they had another trip through a dance-off. Robert had the feeling that they were getting towards their limits now, but he didn't say anything to Aaron, wanting to keep him trying his absolute best. If anything, it was him, Robert, who might mess things up for them this week.

Because week seven meant a rumba.

Having only just come out to only the second person he had ever come out to, Robert was finding it extremely stressful to have to perform one of the sexiest dances included in the show. In a way, it helped that Aaron knew now - it explained why Robert sometimes blew hot and cold, and why he suddenly lost his nerve sometimes if things seemed too intimate. It made things tricky too, though, because Robert worried that Aaron would realise that Robert was attracted to him, specifically - it couldn't be that hard to work out - and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that.

He did his best, though. He tried to borrow a little of Aaron's courage, tried, in a strange sort of way, to feel worthy of him. Without him having to say anything, Aaron said to him one afternoon: "Just go for it, and they'll just think you're good at acting. Pretending doesn't prove anything."

"It's hard," Robert admitted.

"I know," Aaron said.

When it came to it, though, Robert found his courage. He immersed himself in his dancing persona, let himself become the character who loved the character Aaron was playing more than anything. And it felt amazing. It was certainly the best dance they had done; Robert thought it might even be the best dance he himself had ever done. As the music faded out, the two of them held their final positions for a few seconds, and then, while a roar of noise started up from the audience, they launched themselves into the biggest, tightest hug. Robert could feel Aaron's hot breath on his neck.

"I'm so proud of you," Aaron said, so that Robert had to hold him for a few seconds longer to make sure his stinging eyes would not spill over.

Without letting go of each other, and, walking so close that they bumped together, they made their way across to the judges.

\--

Aaron's favourite dance so far, by quite a big margin, was the paso doble, which they were doing in week 8, one week before the show moved to Blackpool for those who made it through. Robert had choreographed large sections of side-by-side steps, where they got to be unusually equal in their performance. In homage to Aaron's rugby career, it kicked off with a few haka-like manoeuvres which probably wouldn't earn them any points with the Maoris and Kiwis of the world but were  _ enormous _ fun to do.

Possibly the best bit was how hilariously obvious it was that Aaron being assertive and strong was a turn-on for Robert. Aaron liked seeing Robert like that just as much.

And almost before Aaron knew what was happening, they were both naked, and he had Robert in front of him leaning his forehead on his hands against the mirrored wall and he was moaning at Aaron's first push inside him. He was very vocal, which Aaron loved and was embarrassed by at the same time.

"God, that first bit's so good," Robert muttered, as Aaron got fully seated, so Aaron pulled out again, pausing to stroke Robert's cock a few times before sliding back in.

They were using a condom Robert had had in his wallet; when Aaron had asked how long it had been there, concerned that it might not still work, Robert had said shiftily, "Not long," in a way Aaron took to mean that it had been placed in there very recently with exactly this scenario in mind.

He flattened his hand against Robert's stomach and nipped the back of his neck as they went on, realising that Robert was trembling.

"God I love -" Robert broke off to moan, leaving the sentence hanging for long enough for Aaron's mind to jump to all sorts of conclusions, but Robert finished it with: "I love this. I always forget..."

He wasn't disappointed, Aaron told himself, with a particularly sharp thrust that made Robert gasp. It was far too early for those sorts of words. Still, the last few months had been so intense that for just a second he had thought...

Aaron looked to the side and saw himself and Robert in profile in the mirror. He had never thought of it as being something he was into but watching himself disappearing into Robert's body was incredibly erotic.

Afterwards, Robert crossed the room, gloriously naked, to grab a couple of towels, throwing them down where they had been standing so that they could collapse onto them together. Aaron had a sudden urge for a cigarette, though he hadn't smoked in years. Now that he was coming down from his high, he began to wonder what it had meant to Robert - whether it  _ had _ meant anything to him. He watched Robert's face while Robert watched him, saw the gentle smile when Aaron flipped a towel over his privates. This made him just brave enough to try to ask.

"Have you heard people talkin' about the 'strictly curse'?"

"That's not what this is," Robert said clearly, his gaze steady. "I don't... I don't know how to talk about what it is right now, but it's nothing as shallow as that, not as far as I'm concerned."

Aaron let out a relieved breath, and nodded. They smiled at each other, and Robert leaned in for a slow kiss.

\--

Despite the paso doble being Aaron's favourite dance, despite Robert being very proud of his choreography in it, and despite very respectable judge's scores, they found themselves in the dance off again, facing off against one of the most popular couples in the show. They gave it everything they had, working harder than they ever had before. Robert knew it wouldn't be enough. With Aaron's hand in his, Robert imagined telling Vic about him.

_ Vic, he's all I want _ , he might say.  _ He's all I can think about. I've only known him a few months but I can't imagine my life without him in it. _

It all welled up inside him as they held their final position, because on some level he knew that this was it. This was the last time they would be dancing together on the show - what they had just done was amazing, but he knew the judges would save the other couple. And so, as Aaron stepped towards him, instead of pulling Aaron into a hug, Robert cupped his cheeks in his hands and kissed him in full view of everyone, despite knowing the cameras would be close-up on their faces at that very moment.

"Let's go to Blackpool anyway," he said, an hour later, when they had indeed been kicked out. After an emotional final slow-dance with the other couples crowding round, they had finished up on filming, changed into their normal clothes, and were sitting in a burger restaurant not far from the studio.

Aaron blinked at him over his coke and cheeseburger. "You want to?" he asked, guardedly.

"Aaron..." Robert took hold of his slightly greasy hands. "Just because the show's stopped, doesn't mean we have to. Let's drive up to Blackpool together, spend a few nights. Sightseeing, I don't know. We can go to the recording and not have to worry about performing. Just enjoy ourselves, eat chips, get naked on the beach."

"It's November," Aaron pointed out, but there was a glint in his eye.

"We'll have to huddle together for warmth," Robert suggested instead.

Aaron raised his eyebrows. "That's the cheesiest thing you've ever said."

"It's a good idea though, right?" Robert pressed.

Aaron looked down at their hands on the table and stroked the backs of Robert's fingers with his thumb. "Yeah," he said. He smiled. "It's a good idea."


End file.
